Freddy Maertens

Personal information
Full name	Freddy Maertens
Date of birth	February 13, 1952 (1952-02-13) (age 56)
Country	Belgium
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Major wins
World Cycling Champion 1976, 1981 Tour de France green jersey (1976,1978,1981), won 16 stages Vuelta a España 1977 (including 13 stages) Paris-Nice 1977
Infobox last updated on:
April 16, 2007

Medal record
Competitor for  Belgium
Road bicycle racing
World Championships
Gold	1976 Ostuni	Elite Men's Road Race
Gold	1981 Prague	Elite Men's Road Race
Silver	1973 Barcelona	Elite Men's Road Race

Freddy Maertens (born 13 February 1952 in Nieuwpoort) was a Belgian professional racing cyclist and twice world road cycling champion.

In Italy in 1976, he won in front of Italians Francesco Moser and Tino Conti. In Prague in 1981, he beat Italian Giuseppe Saronni and France's Bernard Hinault. He was also second in the 1973 world championship.

Maertens also won the 1977 Vuelta a España, taking more than half the stages; 13 in total, and took the spinters' maillot vert in the Tour de France three times (1976 Tour de France, 1978 Tour de France and 1981 Tour de France). In 1976 he won a record-equalling eight stages of the Tour de France; the following year (1977), he took seven stages in the Giro d'Italia.

Outside the Grand Tours, his stage race victories included Paris-Nice (1977), the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque (1973, 1975, 1976 and 1978), the Tour of Andalucia (1974, 1975), Tour of Belgium (1974, 1975), Tour de Luxembourg (1975), Tour of Sardinia (1977) and Vuelta y Catalunya (1977).

However, despite his sprinting dominance during the 1970s, Maertens did not win a one-day Classic, coming closest with second places in the Ronde van Vlaanderen (1973) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1976). He was disqualified from second place in the 1977 Ronde for an illegal bike change on the Koppenberg climb. His other major one-day road race victories included:

• Gent-Wevelgem (1975, 1976)
• Paris-Brussels (1975)
• Paris-Tours (1975)
• Amstel Gold Race (1976)
• Rund um den Henninger Turm (1976)
• Züri-Metzgete (1976)
• Omloop "Het Volk" (1977, 1978)
• Grote Scheldeprijs (1973)

Maertens is believed to have been one of the best sprinters in the world, and is credited with having nurtured another great sprinter Seán Kelly during the latter's early professional career. He was also an accomplished rider in individual time trials, winning the Grand Prix des Nations in 1976.

He also won the season-long Super Prestige Pernod International competition in 1976 and 1977.

Maertens was known to have pushed high gears, which some critics say caused him to burn out early and retire at young. In response, he said that the higher gears allow him to descend without too much strain to his heart.A year after his fabulous 1981 season his career was all but on the rocks & as reigning World Champion he failed to start the 1982 edition of the race at Goodwood , the official line was that he injured his knee on a gate.

In the 1973 world championship in Barcelona, Spain, fellow Belgian Eddy Merckx accused Maertens of having chased him in the final lap while Merckx had a good chance of staying away, resulting in Italy's Felice Gimondi winning the title. Maertens responded that Merckx had sabotaged his ride because Maertens was riding Shimano components while the other two used Campagnolo. In recent interviews Maertens and Merckx said they have since reconciled their differences.

After retirement Maertens and his wife Carine had many hard years after losing much of their money and being pursued by tax authorities. Maertens was also angry when Belgian television used his photograph as a backdrop to discussions about drug-taking in the sport. He told the French newspaper L'Équipe that "like everyone else", he had used amphetamines in round-the-houses races but he insisted that he had ridden without drugs in important races - not least because he knew he would be tested for them. He previously worked as curator of the Belgian national cycling museum in Roeselare, and now works at the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders Museum), in Oudenaarde.The bicycle shop Maertens Sport in Evergem on the outskirts of Gent is owned by Freddy's brother Mario.

Palmarès

See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

External links

• Freddy Maertens profile at the Cycling Website
• Official Tour de France results for Freddy Maertens

Further reading

"Fall From Grace" by Freddy Maertens and Manu Adriaens, ISBN 1-898111-00-6, 1993, Ronde Publications, Hull. (Probably now out of print - but available secondhand on the net.)

v • d • e Tour de France Maillot vert (Green jersey) winners 1953 Fritz Schär · 1954 Ferdinand Kübler · 1955-1956 Stan Ockers · 1957 Jean Forestier · 1958 Jean Graczyk · 1959 André Darrigade · 1960 Jean Graczyk · 1961 André Darrigade · 1962 Rudi Altig · 1963 Rik van Looy · 1964-1965 Jan Janssen · 1966 Willy Planckaert · 1967 Jan Janssen · 1968 Franco Bitossi · 1969 Eddy Merckx · 1970 Walter Godefroot · 1971-1972 Eddy Merckx · 1973 Herman van Springel · 1974 Patrick Sercu · 1975 Rik Van Linden · 1976 Freddy Maertens · 1977 Jacques Esclassan · 1978 Freddy Maertens · 1979 Bernard Hinault · 1980 Rudy Pevenage · 1981 Freddy Maertens · 1982-1983 Seán Kelly · 1984 Frank Hoste · 1985 Seán Kelly · 1986 Eric Vanderaerden · 1987 Jean-Paul van Poppel · 1988 Eddy Planckaert · 1989 Seán Kelly · 1990 Olaf Ludwig · 1991 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov · 1992 Laurent Jalabert · 1993-1994 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov · 1995 Laurent Jalabert · 1996-2001 Erik Zabel · 2002 Robbie McEwen · 2003 Baden Cooke · 2004 Robbie McEwen · 2005 Thor Hushovd · 2006 Robbie McEwen · 2007 Tom Boonen · 2008 Óscar Freire